First Days in NZ

It has been a really great couple of days here in New Zealand. We got in on Monday and my host mum Jan picked us up from the airport. She gave us a little tour around Auckland and we went up to One Tree Hill which coincidentally has no tree on the top now! So we drove the winding rode all the way up to the tippy top where we could see out for miles which was a really great place to first take us so we could see all around where we would be staying. There were a lot of sheep around which was funny to see they just would roam all on their own. Along with the sheep there were runners, walkers, and cyclists enjoying the time outdoors.

Here are a few pictures:

See the Sheep!! Baaaa

My first day teaching which was on Tuesday was quite an experience! I am with year 5/6 which is like fourth or fifth grade in the states. It is a mixed class of about 30. It is a big class but they were very excited to have a student teacher. They are also very polite and call me Ms. One little girl asked if I knew anyone famous because I am from America so I should know all sorts of famous people ha! It was a lot to take in with just getting to the country then being fully immersed in their schooling. My class that I am in is very student centered with the students choosing for themselves what the should be doing and how they should be learning. If they don't know how to do something it is their responsibility to find someone who can help them. They have five groups named after sports teams and leaders for each group that are responsible for their teams. The class is run on a points system and the children must go to the board and either add their points our take them away form their team owning up to whatever they have done. The day is broken up into three parts Block one, then morning tea with a play break where the students all play together, Block two,  Lunch with play break, and Block three which is set aside for content.


My second day was today Wednesday. My teacher threw me right in having me take a lot of control of the morning and then after morning tea. I was a little nervous but the students responded to me. We worked on writing articles about anything they would like. We went to the computer lab to create their newspapers that will include the articles that they have been working on. We also worked on a math pre-assessment which we will be using to guide our teaching. During block three they are doing athletics which includes sprints, javelin, shot put, and high jump. All the 5/6 students come out each day to practice each event. Today my students were doing sprints. Each split got a chance to run the year 5 girls together and 5 boys together the same with year 6. We ran the 80 meters and 200 meters. Myself and another boy took time and placed the students 1-4. This was really cool to see taking such an important part for athletics but they do not get gym class so the teachers teach all the subjects. At this time the students do this for fun but then the elite students in sport get time in the morning to go and practice with my teacher and another to work on skill.

After school we went for a walk behind our house which is on a golf course. Here are a few pictures of where we went.

That is all for now we will see what Thursday brings us here in the future!

Cheers.